IT.COM

SquadHelp - Marketplace

NameSilo
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Hey Folks,

I've just started using squadhelp.com to list some of my brandable. So far I have 76 domains listed, there is no fee to list. I've had some decent action so far in the way of interested buyers but no sales as of yet. I've only been with them for 1 week now.

A bit of a summary review of SquadHelp:

PROS
  • No Listing fee
  • No Logo design fee
  • Ability to submit your names to end users holding naming contests
  • Ability to chat directly or send a message directly to end users.
  • Stats of your marketplace domains are shown in the marketplace dashboard.
  • Their customer service and support has been great, 24hr a day chat.
  • Ability to increase or decrease the list price of your domains or to show a discount. You can decrease or increase the price yourself by $200. If you want to lower more, you can contact support.
  • End users can shortlist your domains before they make a decision on which they want to purchase. The number of shortlists is shown in you marketplace dashboard.
  • When you submit your names you get to set the price you wish to get. Because their commissions are high I recommend listing at a higher price to offset the commission costs.
  • Their landing pages are fairly basic but they work. Because the marketplace is fairly new, I'm sure we will see style improvements in the future.
  • One thing I really like is they accept multiple extensions. I have listed .co and .io along with .com
  • Each seller gets a direct link to their marketplace portfolio, HERES MY PORTFOLIO. It is handy if your trying to p[promote your portfolio through social media.
  • I like that their marketplace doesn't have tens of thousands domain listings like BB. They are fairly strict on the domains they accept to list and so this helps keep the number of domains in the marketplace down and gets your listings more exposure.
CONS
  • Their commissions are very high, depending on the domain name they are usually between 30% and 35%. However, there are no listing fees, no logo design fees, so in the end their commission is very similar to brand buckets.
  • Their logos are not top quality, in fact I requested to have some of my logos remade.
  • I think they have a big backlog of logos to design, the wait time for logo design has been around 1 week, but your names are still listed while the logos are being designed.
  • After your names are accepted you need to agree to their commission rate, at this point you also need to apply your own keywords, descriptions etc. I found this was very time consuming.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Thanks for tagging me. As a general practice, I tend not to respond to conversations in this thread because we would like the community to share their candid opinion and feedback with each other without us introducing any bias from SH perspective. However, if you would like us to clarify something, please tag me and I will do my best to respond in a timely manner. Also, we are continuously adding new features to our Marketplace and we announce all such updates in our Discussion Forum. In addition, we heavily rely on the feedback in our discussion forum to influence our product roadmap, so I encourage everyone to participate there as well.

Regarding the questions about approval rate, let me clarify a few things:

1. We do not use any automated tools or bots to approve or reject marketplace submissions. All submissions are reviewed by humans.
2. The submissions are assigned randomly to members of our Marketplace review team - which means that it does not really make a difference what time of day you submit the names.
3. Your current submission limits do not have any bearing on the approval of your future submissions. These limits simply control how many submissions can you submit at a time, before you have to wait for them to be reviewed. If your approval rate stays high, you will continue to see almost unlimited submission privileges (i.e. 200 submission limit)
4. Our team does take into account a list of criteria while deciding whether or not to approve the submissions. We also review certain past metrics from contests (if they are available). As a background, we have more than 6 million domains that have been submitted to our contests. So if you are submitting a recently registered name to marketplace, there is a good chance that name was previously submitted to our contests by someone else. In that case, we already have some metrics on how well that name was liked by previous contest holders. As an example, if you submit a name AwesomeName.com, and we see that it was previously submitted to 20 different contests over last few years by different people and never received a high rating or shortlist, there is a good chance it is not resonating with our customers and therefore it may not be approved. This is one of the several things we look at. Here is an article that covers some of the things we look at while approving the names:
https://helpdesk.squadhelp.com/domain-marketplace/marketplace-submission-best-practices

5. Having said that, we are going to stay extremely selective and curated about which names to approve in the premium domain marketplace. We want each name to receive high visibility, and therefore we might even reject a good name if there are already very similar names in the marketplace. If your name was approved in other marketplaces, it usually does not play a factor in our own approval decisions. Each marketplace has their own methodologies, and we are building a unique platform which may not align with the criteria used by other marketplaces.

Of course, the most important thing to note is that there is no exact science or criteria that can determine exactly which names to approve or reject. There is always going to be the "human element" or subjectiveness in approving the names, and in some cases our assessment may not be accurate. We continue to learn and our criteria will likely continue to evolve as well.
First of all, thanks for clarifying these things. I wonder, in the same way as we have a choice to have 5 names reviewed per month regarding the price, it's not possible to have 5 names reviewed one more time regarding approval in the premium marketplace, which will be randomly reviewed by someone else that the first reviewer?
Also, it's possible to submit unregistered domains, which will be registered by SH. I wonder, all these names registered by SH will go to the premium section straight away and will compete with our premium names, isn't it? Can you share how many names like these SH has? I'm asking because I was testing the search feature for premium names, with different keywords and lot's of times names owned by SH are in front, so either most of the premiums are owned by SH, either the search feature it's set so it will show first SH names.
 
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First of all, thanks for clarifying these things. I wonder, in the same way as we have a choice to have 5 names reviewed per month regarding the price, it's not possible to have 5 names reviewed one more time regarding approval in the premium marketplace, which will be randomly reviewed by someone else that the first reviewer?
Also, it's possible to submit unregistered domains, which will be registered by SH. I wonder, all these names registered by SH will go to the premium section straight away and will compete with our premium names, isn't it? Can you share how many names like these SH has? I'm asking because I was testing the search feature for premium names, with different keywords and lot's of times names owned by SH are in front, so either most of the premiums are owned by SH, either the search feature it's set so it will show first SH names.

You can take advantage of the "Request Review" feature to ask for another review of the names that were previously rejected. The second review may or not be done by the same person who reviewed the name the first time.

Squadhelp accepts two types of names in the premium domain Marketplace: Registered domains (seller owned domains) and Unregistered domains. In case of Unregistered domains, you have the option to specify whether you would like SH to register the domain (if approved) or you would like to register it yourself upon approval. If SH registers the domains, then you receive a smaller commission since cost of domain registration as well as any other costs are borne by SH. If you opt to register the domain yourself, you receive a higher commission (typically 35% SH commission). In both cases, if the names are approved, they are all visible in the SH Premium Domain marketplace.

With the exception of one domain (which is currently owned directly by SH), we do not sell any domains in the marketplace which are directly owned by SH without a seller involvement. This one specific domain was acquired by SH few months ago to test certain market scenarios, and will likely be visible until it is purchased. However as per our policy, all members of SH team are prohibited from buying or investing in domains and selling them in SH marketplace.

Regarding the search feature - it does not differentiate between SH registered domains or seller owned domains. The search results are sorted by relevance (most important factor being the keyword that was used in search). There are several other sorting factors (such as domain popularity) however the commission rates or who registered the domain does not play any role in sorting.
 
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Yesterday I have submitted one of unregistered domains and was approved for Premium listing. But I made mistake and mistakenly choose option "SquadHelp to register domain" and now I have option if I approved to receive only 25% commission. I contacted support and they says it cannot be changed.

I asked further in case if I accept terms and domain would not sell in one year period, they said that I have two options if I renew ... first option is that I pay listing fee $10 and my commission to stay the same, and second is if they pay listing fee my commission would be reduced. Third option if I decide not to renew I would be charged anyway $10, because name cannot be removed from premium listing :)

So bad terms, there is no way I could accept it ... and just because I made mistake during submission and chose wrong option that SquadHelp register domain, and not me :)
 
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Yesterday I have submitted one of unregistered domains and was approved for Premium listing. But I made mistake and mistakenly choose option "SquadHelp to register domain" and now I have option if I approved to receive only 25% commission. I contacted support and they says it cannot be changed.

I asked further in case if I accept terms and domain would not sell in one year period, they said that I have two options if I renew ... first option is that I pay listing fee $10 and my commission to stay the same, and second is if they pay listing fee my commission would be reduced. Third option if I decide not to renew I would be charged anyway $10, because name cannot be removed from premium listing :)

So bad terms, there is no way I could accept it ... and just because I made mistake during submission and chose wrong option that SquadHelp register domain, and not me :)

Did they already register the domain? If not, get & sell it on your own.

If they did already register the domain, move on man. You'll be happy with 25%, should it ever sell.

After all, you did select that option

imo
 
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You can take advantage of the "Request Review" feature to ask for another review of the names that were previously rejected. The second review may or not be done by the same person who reviewed the name the first time.
I did not know this. It looked like it was for price or logo issues. You might want to add an obvious line to the choices like "Request Premium Review again" or something like it.
 
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Did they already register the domain? If not, get & sell it on your own.

If they did already register the domain, move on man. You'll be happy with 25%, should it ever sell.

After all, you did select that option

imo

No, they didn't ... I didn't either... I have requested a review and I will ask changing option if it is possible. I know that that was my mistake, but anybody could happened ... If they approve great, if not... will reject their proposal... because I don't like it.... it is not about commission so much, but because the renewal fees, which I would have to pay, but my commission would stay the same.
 
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I've been on the platform for about 10 days now. Of the first handful of domains I submitted, about half were approved. Since then it has been quite a bit slower. I'm sitting with 6 premiums approved, and an approval % of 17.14% (I rejected 2 names because the commission was too high -- 32.5%)

No sales as of yet, but I have 3 domains that have been shortlisted (one name shortlisted twice).

Somebody mentioned that they didn't like that discounts expire each Monday. I actually like this. When I apply a discount I get a message stating that anybody interested in the name is notified. I assume that means those that shortlisted your name. Maybe @GrantP can confirm? Seems like a neat tool to 'nudge' an interested buyer, since it clearly states on the landing page the day that the discount expires. Let it reset on Monday, and try another 'weekend sale' next weekend.
 
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Just received newsletter about upcoming SH wholesale marketplace and IMO this could lead to a huge drop in end user sales. When there are a public "wholesale marketplace" with domain names offered for sale as low as 1% - 5% of original price many end users will give a second thought before paying full price for a domain.

This probably not happen for good keyword names but when a random 5 letter / 6 letter brandable domain listed for sale at $2495 and just slight variation of single letter being offered by someone for $45 at "Wholesale marketplace" buyer probably would settle for second option and save $2450.
 
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Just received newsletter about upcoming SH wholesale marketplace and IMO this could lead to a huge drop in end user sales. When there are a public "wholesale marketplace" with domain names offered for sale as low as 1% - 5% of original price many end users will give a second thought before paying full price for a domain.

This probably not happen for good keyword names but when a random 5 letter / 6 letter brandable domain listed for sale at $2495 and just slight variation of single letter being offered by someone for $45 at "Wholesale marketplace" buyer probably would settle for second option and save $2450.

My understanding is that the wholesale Marketplace is for seller to another seller and not end-user.
 
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Just received newsletter about upcoming SH wholesale marketplace and IMO this could lead to a huge drop in end user sales. When there are a public "wholesale marketplace" with domain names offered for sale as low as 1% - 5% of original price many end users will give a second thought before paying full price for a domain.

This probably not happen for good keyword names but when a random 5 letter / 6 letter brandable domain listed for sale at $2495 and just slight variation of single letter being offered by someone for $45 at "Wholesale marketplace" buyer probably would settle for second option and save $2450.

I agree that this is a mistake. That’s what the other marketplaces are for...
 
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My understanding is that the wholesale Marketplace is for seller to another seller and not end-user.

Yes you are correct it's for seller to another seller but eventually end users going to find that such a marketplace exist where they could buy a similar name for wholesale price imo they would be hesitant to pay end user price.
 
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look at it this way, instead of doing it on NamePros where its all visible to google & other search engines, you'll do it in a private marketplace where stuff is not indexed.

Assuming it will be private.
 
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I did not know this. It looked like it was for price or logo issues. You might want to add an obvious line to the choices like "Request Premium Review again" or something like it.
I re-submitted few rejected domains like this, and one was approved. The one i was sure in, so i was highly surprised of the initial rejection.
 
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I re-submitted few rejected domains like this, and one was approved. The one i was sure in, so i was highly surprised of the initial rejection.
Me too. There were two i was surprised they rejected. I re-submitted and they were approved. probably comes down to the people assessing these names. Human factor will always come at play. Overall it's a great platform.
 
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I re-submitted few rejected domains like this, and one was approved. The one i was sure in, so i was highly surprised of the initial rejection.
Hello, was wondering how you do this. Not able to find it. Thank you!
 
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Hello, was wondering how you do this. Not able to find it. Thank you!
Under every your name, there is Request Review link. In this case, you go to your Rejected list and hit Request Review there. You can send only 5 domains a month this way.
 
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Under every your name, there is Request Review link. In this case, you go to your Rejected list and hit Request Review there. You can send only 5 domains a month this way.
Ok great! Thank you!
 
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Under every your name, there is Request Review link. In this case, you go to your Rejected list and hit Request Review there. You can send only 5 domains a month this way.

Yes one of my initially rejected names accepted today using request review tool... Good initiative ...
 
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look at it this way, instead of doing it on NamePros where its all visible to google & other search engines, you'll do it in a private marketplace where stuff is not indexed.

Assuming it will be private.

Stuff is not indexed on a Slack channel either nor are prices or names shown in a request thread. I don’t like how they want to control and even charge for names that we want to get rid of. I mean $5.00 for a name? Their fees are allready pretty outrageous but I draw the line when I would be charged to discard my own name. Control freaks IMO. If they just wanted to make it a private matter they could let the people exchange on Slack for free.
 
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Stuff is not indexed on a Slack channel either nor are prices or names shown in a request thread. I don’t like how they want to control and even charge for names that we want to get rid of. I mean $5.00 for a name? Their fees are allready pretty outrageous but I draw the line when I would be charged to discard my own name. Control freaks IMO. If they just wanted to make it a private matter they could let the people exchange on Slack for free.

Agreed.. did not think there would be a fee..

obviously there is.
 
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No, they didn't ... I didn't either... I have requested a review and I will ask changing option if it is possible. I know that that was my mistake, but anybody could happened ... If they approve great, if not... will reject their proposal... because I don't like it.... it is not about commission so much, but because the renewal fees, which I would have to pay, but my commission would stay the same.

SquadHelp has approved my review and they have let me register domain myself. Thanks!
 
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Ok, so I submitted a few more names the other day and 2 were accepted tonight. So they went live and an hour later I got 2 emails:

You Just Earned A Badge
Congratulations, James !
You just earned a Newbie - Participated in first contest badge at Squadhelp.


and then:

You Just Earned A Badge
Congratulations, James !
You just earned a Full of Ideas - Submitted more than 20 entries in a single contest! badge at Squadhelp.

But I didnt start or submit to a contest. I poked around and see one domain has a contest like and it shows in my stats "Entries Submitted: 36".

Not sure what this means and where on the site I can find more info. Is this something I need to track or be concerned about ?
 
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As the biggest Naming Platform over the globe, Squadhelp offers you the capacity to advertise your names to a great many potential purchasers consistently. Noteworthy advertising venture by Squadhelp to advance your spaces crosswise over different showcasing channels.
Congrats! Earned #SquadGang badge...here 🎀
 
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Ok, so I submitted a few more names the other day and 2 were accepted tonight. So they went live and an hour later I got 2 emails:

You Just Earned A Badge
Congratulations, James !
You just earned a Newbie - Participated in first contest badge at Squadhelp.


and then:

You Just Earned A Badge
Congratulations, James !
You just earned a Full of Ideas - Submitted more than 20 entries in a single contest! badge at Squadhelp.

But I didnt start or submit to a contest. I poked around and see one domain has a contest like and it shows in my stats "Entries Submitted: 36".

Not sure what this means and where on the site I can find more info. Is this something I need to track or be concerned about ?
I would use the blue button and ask. It's possible a contest holder pulled some of your domains into their contest from the Marketplace, although 20 seems a stretch. The badges themselves don't really mean anything, they're just for show. The platform was experiencing a lot of glitches yesterday, so I would check, just in case.
 
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